How social media is helping vulnerable youngsters in the UK

Let’s be clear everything in life has a double-edged sword and social media is a perfect example of this.

There have been several studies revealing the dark nature of social media. We are pretty sure you have read at least one article on the issues surrounding sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Whatsapp and other social media apps.

However, a study conducted by The British Journal of Social Work looked at how social media impacts children in foster care. The findings from the journal have surprisingly been very positive. They found that young people in care who use social media show more maturity in terms of their privacy settings, revealing a desire to be responsible whilst they are online.

In addition to this, they also discovered that as social media sites connect young people to all kinds of different personalities all over the world, it also helps foster kids to develop positive social skills.

In some cases, social media has even connected young people in care to their birth families and long-distance friends, which in turn keeps them grounded and gives them a sense of belonging.